Snowboarding is a fast growing sport and improvements in the equipment to promote safety and to enhance the maneuverability or responsiveness of the snowboard by the rider should be well received. Presently some snowboards are ridden with the rider using only straps to maintain boot contact with the board. Snowboards with various type bindings are available commercially from several sources including Burton Snowboards, Manchester Center, Vt. Some of the commercially available snowboards combine boot bindings and steel plates attached to, or in the form of, inserts laminated into the board with the capability of fixedly adjusting the relative angular stance desired for the feet relative to the board. This adjustment is accomplished by removing and repositioning the screw attachment of the bindings after "dialing" or rotating the bindings to the desired stance location. Additional changes in the stance or relative rotation of the feet to the board are possible only by removing the boots from the board or when the board is not in use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a boot binder attachment mechanism that permits the rider to rotate his feet relative to the snowboard during a ride to thereby enhance the maneuverability or responsiveness of the snowboard by these actions of the rider.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rotatable attachment for boot binders on snowboards that may be activated by action of the rider to provide additional torque to the board during a snowboard ride.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rotatable attachment for boot binders on snowboards that automatically returns to the original setting after being rotated by a rider during a snowboard ride.
A further object of the present invention is a boot attachment mechanism for snowboards that provides variable feet angulation capabilities during a snowboard ride.
An additional object of the present invention is a boot attachment mechanism for snowboards that promotes snowboard action and responsiveness to rider action.
Another object of the present invention is a rider responsive boot binder attachment mechanism that enhances torque and tweak board action.
The foregoing and additional objects are attained, according to one aspect of the present invention, by providing a pair of first plate members secured in spaced relationship to a snowboard, a pair of second plate members rotatably secured, one each, to the first pair of plate members, boot binder mechanism attached to each of the second plate members, and elastomeric structure disposed between each connected first and second plate to limit relative rotation therebetween and to exert a force on the plates to effect return to an original preset position after the plates have been rotated relative to each other by rider applied torque action.